Miami Hurricanes’ winning streak snapped in dramatic fashion by rival Florida State
The Miami Hurricanes’ winning streak survived the “Cameron Crazies” and the Duke Blue Devils.
But on Tuesday night, it couldn’t survive a place Miami still hasn’t been able to overcome in six years.
Despite Charlie Moore’s 20 points and almost another dose of last-second heroics, the Hurricanes were unable to add another triumph to their resurgent season as they fell to rival Florida State 65-64 in another Atlantic Coast Conference road nail-biter at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
Miami (13-4, 5-1 in ACC) had its nine-game winning streak snapped and lost for the eighth consecutive time to the Seminoles (9-5, 3-2 ACC). The Hurricanes have not won in Tallahassee since Feb. 14, 2016.
Just three days after Miami stunned then No. 2-ranked Duke on its home floor, UM coach Jim Larranaga’s veteran-led squad delivered in the clutch once again in the closing seconds to give itself a chance at another dramatic win.
Leading 61-60 with under a minute to play, Isaiah Wong missed a three-pointer from the top of the key which would have made it a two-possession game.
Instead, Malik Osborne’s three-pointer gave FSU a 63-61 lead with 24.7 seconds left.
Moore drove to the rim on the ensuing possession, but his shot bounced off the backboard. Jordan Miller soared in to claim the rebound, but his put back drew rim. Miller, however, collected his own miss and kicked it out to Moore, who swished his three with seven seconds left to give the Canes a 64-63 lead.
“When Charlie hit that three I was thinking there’s a lot of time left,” Larranaga said. “Seven seconds is an eternity when you’re only up one point. They’re very athletic and fast and we tried to contain the dribbler but Evans did a great job of pushing it down the floor from top speed and he tried to get himself all the way to the basket, which he was able to get there and Charlie defended it and obviously the referee called a foul.”
Against Duke, Moore’s layup with 33 seconds left, followed by a Kameron McGusty layup and clutch free throw by Wong completed a Miami comeback from a three-point deficit.
But on Tuesday, a late whistle led to a different ending for Moore and the Hurricanes.
Moore fouled Florida State’s RayQuan Evans near the paint with 0.8 left, sending Evans to the free throw line. Moore fouled out on the play, and Evans then buried both free throws to seal the outcome.
“Not much you can do about that. He made some clutch free throws,” Larranaga said.
“After the game I told Charlie he made an incredible shot, Jordan Miller got a great offensive rebound and threw it to Charlie and I thought that was going to be the game winner. But as it turned out Florida State was able to come back and get a bucket.”
The loss kept the Hurricanes from what would have been their longest winning streak since they opened the 2017-18 season by winning their first 10 games.
The Hurricanes were the last undefeated team in the ACC to fall as FSU beat previously unbeaten ACC teams for the second consecutive game having upended Louisville this past Saturday.
The Hurricanes surprisingly were not ranked following their 76-74 upset victory this past Saturday over Duke. Miami entered the game among teams also receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches Polls.
Tuesday’s loss ruined the Hurricanes’ chances of climbing into the top 25, which were almost certain with a victory considering they will not play again before the next rankings are released.
But Hamilton, who coached at Miami for a decade from 1990-2000, and has led the Seminoles to three consecutive Sweet 16 appearances coming into this season, had high praise for the Hurricanes after the game.
“Miami has a really, really good basketball team. They have the ability, in my opinion, to get to the Final Four,” Hamilton said. “They are so difficult to defend. Every time you make a mistake, they make you pay. They execute very well. They seem to be in sync with each other, creating for each other. They were making it hard for us to run anything. We were fortunate to win this game...They are going to be a tough out for anyone.”
Moore scored 10 of his points in the first half as Miami opened the game picking up where it left off on the defensive end against Duke.
Miami finished with 10 steals and 21 points off 15 Florida State turnovers. But 10 of those giveaways came in the second half as the Seminoles played much more efficiently in the second half, shooting 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Miami’s defense limited FSU to 1-of-10 shooting from 3 in the first half.
However, the Hurricanes, who entered the game averaging only 9.5 turnovers per game this season and 8.2 against ACC competition, committed 11 turnovers leading to 15 FSU points.
Moore shot 8-of-12 and finished with six assists while McGusty totaled 17 points and nine rebounds for the Hurricanes. Wong finished with 10 points and five assists.
Despite a distinct size disadvantage with FSU having two 7-footers in John Butler and Naheem McLeod, Miami held its own with 16 points in the paint in the first half, but was outscored 32-20 overall.
Sam Waardenburg was held to only two points in the second half and finished with eight overall.
Freshman Matthew Cleveland led FSU with 15 points while Anthony Polite scored 12 and grabbed eight rebounds while Evans finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 10:27 PM.
